Advertising’s image —U.S. and Yugoslavia

Advertising is one of the institutions which cut across cultures, and this study assesses comparative differences and similarities between the U.S. and Yugoslavia in their attitudes toward advertising as an institution. The comparison is effected through replication in Yugoslavia of the Bauer-Geyser Study. The findings indicate that advertising in Yugoslavia is not a salient issue, although there is a greater homogeneity of salience of other specific issues than in the U.S. More U.S. respondents expressed a need for change in advertising; more Yugoslav respondents were indifferent toward advertising. The reasons for liking and disliking advertising also differed in the two samples. The implications are that the intensity of advertising in the U.S. has made it a salient irritant to at least a minority of consumers, whereas in Yugoslavia there is an immediate need for improvement in the creative aspect of advertising.